Phil Duffy, president of the Woods Hole Research Center, argues that climate policy must follow science, not politics. He cites the IPCC consensus that recent warming is essentially all human-caused, criticizes Scott Pruitt for calling for continued debate, and urges people to reduce emissions, act locally, and contact elected representatives.
Chapters
Thank you. Thank you. You know, I have to say, I never thought that I would hear a crowd chanting, science. Science. Science. Science. Science. Science. Science. Science. Science. Thank you. Thank you. You know, it's wonderful to see so many of you here today. And if there's one good thing about what happened yesterday, which I can. I can't bring myself to say the name, but if there's one good thing about what happened yesterday, it's that it's motivated so many folks like you to come out and get involved. And democracy only works if the citizens are involved. Thank you. And don't stop. Remember, today is only the beginning. So I'd like to start by giving a special welcome and thank you to my former boss in the White House, John Holdren, who was here somewhere today. John's just returned to Falmouth, and I mean just returned to Falmouth after eight years as the President's science advisor. And in that role, John had a lot to do with everything that the Obama administration did to fight climate change. So, John, wherever you are, thank you. Thank you, and welcome back to Thelma. And there's. There's one principle that underlined and informed everything that John and I did together in Washington and everything that we do at Woods Hole Research center, and one principle that I value personally above all others, and that's the idea that policy should be based on facts, on a process of gathering information, assessing that information, testing hypotheses, and coming to conclusions. In other words, policy should be based on science. And remember, science is, after all, science is a process more than it's a body of knowledge. And it's extraordinary that I should feel the need to stand here today and defend the idea that policy should be based on science. Science has been so fundamental to human progress for so long. The cars that we drive, the phones in your pocket, the medications that we take to maintain our health, all of these things are the products of science. To reject science is to reject rational thought. And rational thought is what stands between us and chaos. Two days ago, I heard Scott Pruitt, who's probably going to head our Environmental Protection Agency, I heard Scott Pruitt call for continued debate about the human role in climate change. And that may sound reasonable, but it's actually a rejection of science. And it's a rejection of science because it's been known for 20 years that humans are causing climate change. We don't need more debate about that. We need action. To set the record straight. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that essentially all of recent global warming has been caused by humans. All of it. All of global warming has been caused by humans. And that conclusion was arrived at by thousands of scientists. And not only that, that conclusion was endorsed unanimously by 195 countries. If that's not consensus, tell me what is. And if 195 countries know that humans are causing climate change, then the guy who's running our EPA should know it too. And he should formulate policy and enforce policy based on that fact. And it is a fact. Anything less than that is an abdication of the most fundamental responsibility of government, which is to provide a safe environment for citizens to live in. Anything less than that is a moral failure. Liberals are afraid to talk about morality. But it's time to subject us and to subject future generations to the consequences of climate change. Droughts, floods, hurricanes, sea level rise, crop failure, wildfire, water scarcity. To subject all of us and future generations to those devastating consequences for what? In order to preserve the profits of an industry that's doomed in the long run, in order to maintain in office a few politicians who are the servants of that industry. If that's not a moral failure, I don't know what is. And let me tell you something. Conservatives like to talk about the rights of the unborn. Well, what about the rights of the unborn to live in a healthy planet? The decisions that we make today affect the lives of future generations, and those future generations have no voice in those decisions. It's up to us. Okay, so what can we do? What can you do to continue to make progress on climate change? When Washington is run by know nothings, I'm going to mention three things. First, set an example. Do what you can do in your own life to reduce your own emissions of greenhouse gases. And that's important. And it's not important because your own greenhouse gas emissions matter on the scale of the planet. They don't. But what's important is to set an example. And your good behavior will influence others. So do what you can to set it to be a good climate citizen. Second, get involved locally. If the federal government is not going to lead on climate change, it's going to be up to the towns and cities and states. And so let's come together and let's work together and let's do even more than we're already doing right here in Falmouth. Let's do even more to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases and to generate renewable energy. We all know that some aspects of that have been controversial in this town. But let's use this time, let's use this moment as a motivation to get together, to overcome our differences and show that we can unite and make progress. Thirdly, contact your elected representatives. One of them is here today, Representative Bill Keenan. Bill's going to. Yes, and she's minutes. But contact your elected representatives. Do it often. Tell them, not only tell them that you care about climate change, and not only that, tell them that climate change influences how you vote. And if elected representatives care about one thing, it's how you vote. Okay, I want to close with one thought which is really important, and that is that right now, America is very divided. It feels very divided. A lot of us are worried and a lot of us are fearful. And it's important that we don't let that result in conflict among different groups of citizens. It's important that we don't let politicians incite conflict among different groups of citizens. And I want to tell you something. Remember this. Trump voters, Trump supporters are not the enemy. Trump supporters are your fellow Americans. Our fellow Americans, our fellow citizens, Trump supporters are literally, in some cases, our brothers and sisters. And they don't want anything that you and I don't want. They want freedom and they want economic opportunity. And we all deserve that. So here's how to keep America great, and America is great. Stand up for truth. Insist that policies be based on facts and science. Defend and strengthen our political institutions, especially the Constitution of the United States. And remember this, if they can take away the rights of one group, any group, that means they can take away your rights. Stand up and defend the rights of all American citizens. Thank you.
